Cabinet Appoints Abbas Ibrahim as General Security Chief
The cabinet on Monday approved the appointment of deputy military intelligence chief Brig.-Gen. Abbas Ibrahim as the new director-general of the General Security Department.
Ibrahim was also promoted to the rank of Major General.
The cabinet also appointed acting General Security chief Brig.-Gen. Raymond Khattar as director-general of the Civil Defense Department to replace Brig. Gen. Darwish Hobeika.
After the emergency cabinet session held at the Grand Serail under Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Information Minister Walid al-Daouq quoted the premier as saying that “the approved appointments as well as those that will be approved in the future do not represent a victory for one camp and a loss for another.”
Informed sources told al-Liwaa newspaper in remarks published Monday that Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has avoided to take any stance concerning the issue of the Christian political forces’ attempt to restore the position of the General Security chief to the Maronite sect.
“He (the Patriarch) didn’t want to make a fuss over the issue, especially after he was informed that the Shiites in the government insisted on keeping the position” with their sect, they said.
The newspaper quoted a ministerial source as saying: “Appointing Ibrahim as the director-general was agreed upon in the last session but was postponed so that Interior Minister Marwan Charbel meets him, the thing that happened on Saturday.”
Up until 1998, the position of General Security chief had long been occupied by a Christian figure.
Under former president Emile Lahoud, a Shiite was appointed to the position for the first time ever.
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